Dancers angry at achievement foundation (National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation reneges on offer).

VANCOUVER

Germaine Langan feels that the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation has made a big mistake.

The Vancouver area Native woman was contacted by then NAAF employee, Jacquie Carpenter, on Dec. 7 and asked for her assistance in lining up contemporary Native dancers for NAAF's annual, nationally televised achievement awards gala to be held in Vancouver this year on March 10. She complied, and over the next two months provided several names -- including that of her own 17-year-old daughter, Stephanie -- to Carpenter.

Video audition tapes were made and shipped to Toronto, where the foundation headquarters are located, for review and approval. A series of e-mail messages and phone calls between Carpenter and Langan (copies of the e-mail messages were provided by Langan to Windspeaker) show that four dancers believed they would be part of the show.

Preparations were made for one dancer to travel from Edmonton to Vancouver to prepare for the performance. The others, who already reside in the Vancouver area, arranged their schedules to be available for a week of rehearsals leading up to the show.

But on Feb. 15, a letter was e-mailed to Langan by Carpenter that informed her that the plans had been changed.

"I am sorry that I haven't been able to get back to you sooner, as the office was away at a conference last week. Since my return to [Toronto], there is a new associate producer working on the show and she has taken the liberty of hiring other non-Native dancers. So it is with regret on my part that Stephanie's services will not be needed. I wash my hands clean of the outcome and the direction that the show has taken," the letter, appearing over Carpenter's signature, read. "I know that this letter is not a positive one, but I hope that I have not inconvenienced you too much. Again, Germaine and Stephanie, I feel badly as to how this has turned out. On a personal note I am flabbergasted with the decisions being made and therefore I have taken the position of production secretary only."

Carpenter is no longer employed by the foundation. Langan discovered this when she tried to call her at work six days after the letter was received. Reached at her Toronto home, Carpenter declined to comment on how her employment at the foundation came to an end.

The idea that non-Native dancers were hired to displace Native dancers for a nationally televised celebration of Aboriginal achievement is one that Langan finds infuriating.

Although an offer was extended by the foundation to the dancers, inviting them to perform a lesser role in the show, they found the offer to be unacceptable.

"It turns out that they're offering these young girls a part in the show where they carry the torch on stage," Langan said. "They've all turned down that part. They're not taking it. They're very upset because they were led to believe they were dancing. They've gone out and told their families, their friends. They were all so excited. Now they've had to back-track and say `we're not doing it now. They've replaced us with non-Native dancers.'"

She said she asked why the change was made and was told that NAAF chairman, John Kim Bell, wanted experienced, professional dancers for the performance.

"The message that comes across is that these girls are not good enough," she said. "That's what I asked, `Why were they cut?' and that's what Jacquie [Carpenter] said, that he [John Kim Bell] said they don't have the proper training. But why would he ask for youth dancers to begin with if he wanted professionals? These girls are coming up in their careers. They're good for their age. But why ask for youth just to shatter their dreams?"

NAAF spokesperson Marlene Finn said John Kim Bell was busy writing the script for the production and was not available to comment. Finn answered questions dealing with the situation. She said the problem was caused because Carpenter did not have the authority to offer the dancers a role in the production.

"She over-stepped her boundaries by letting these four women think that they were signed up when they weren't," Finn said.

She said Bell acted as soon as he realized what was going on.

"Because he wasn't aware, and he found out about a week ago, at that point what he suggested was, you know, by all means because of the circumstances and the confusion and so on, he was quite prepared to honor the obligation, to honor these people and give them a part in the production and he did have a very challenging one for them," she said. "And he offered them this. It was a sequenced piece. It was not a simple, Mickey Mouse appearance on the stage."

Asked about the Native/non-Native issue, Finn said the foundation has no hard and fast policy in this area but "every effort is made to hire Aboriginal people and there are Aboriginal performers throughout the entire production."

Finn would not comment on how or why Carpenter's employment ended.

"All I can say is that she isn't here, any more. I honestly don't know if it was her decision to leave or whether she was asked to."

The NAAF spokesperson said the foundation acted as soon as it realized there was a problem and regrets the misunderstanding.

"As soon as the organization realized what had happened, they made every effort to accommodate these four women," she said. "We're actually very disappointed and we are contacting them one-by-one to tell them that we're very regretful that they've decided not to be part of it.